News In Brief

ByCompiledRobert Kilborn and Lance CardenApril 26, 1999

NATO leaders said they would launch a naval campaign to halt oil shipments to Serb forces in Kosovo, although there were differences of opinion and the details were not decided. Nineteen leaders attending the alliance's 50th-anniversary summit in Washington also adopted a new policy for intervening in unison beyond their own borders to halt regional crises or meet security threats. The accord recognizes the "primary responsibility" of the UN Security Council for world peace without giving it an explicit veto of NATO actions.

The Pentagon announced deployment of 2,000 additional US troops to the Balkans. Military officials said the extra forces would help protect 24 Apache attack helicopters while the aircraft are on the ground - not while they're on missions in Yugoslavia. The Apaches have arrived in Albania, but have not yet flown in combat, officials said.

Army investigators were trying to discover what caused a combat helicopter to crash in a heavily wooded area at Fort Campbell, Ky., killing seven soldiers and injuring four others. The incident involving a UH-60 Black Hawk occurred during what Army officials said was a routine exercise unrelated to the Kosovo crisis. Fort Campbell is the home of the 101st Airborne Division.

Four students at a Texas junior high school were charged with plotting to kill teachers and students in an attack similar to the one carried out in Littleton, Colo. The alleged plot, believed to have been conceived in January, came to light when school officials in Wimberly, Texas, were contacted by students who had overheard discussions of such plans. Gunpowder, crude bombs, and computer disks with bombmaking data were found in the homes of three 14-year-old boys. Wimberley is about 40 miles southwest of Austin.

Clinton urged Americans to end the "culture of violence" linked to the teenage gunmen in Colorado. In his weekly radio address, the president also called for a tightening the nation's gun laws. He said he will ask Congress this week to crack down on gun shows and illegal gun trafficking, ban violent juveniles from ever being able to buy firearms, and close a loophole that allows juveniles to own assault rifles.

A federal appeals court said companies could not use rivals' trademarks to trick potential customers into visiting their Web sites. The ruling in a California case came from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles. It concerns the use of "meta tags," which can be embedded in the coding of Web pages to attract consumers looking for a particular trademark.

People who have relatives among Kosovo refugees or want to assist in relocation of the refugees to the US can use a toll-free telephone number to find out how to do so, the State Department said. The number - 1-800-727-4420 - was set up by InterAction, a coalition of more than 160 US-based relief, development, and refugee-aid agencies. The government has said it will allow into the US up to 20,000 of the refugees.